The European Space Agency will make two more attempts to contact Phobos-Grunt
The European Space Agency will make two more attempts to contact Phobos-Grunt.
Tag: ESA
Europe has ceased its effort to contact Phobos-Grunt
Bad news: Europe has ceased its effort to contact Phobos-Grunt.
Signals transmitted to Phobos-Grunt this week have failed to raise its orbit
Phobos-Grunt has once again failed to respond to signals transmitted this week in an attempt to raise its orbit.
ESA tracking station loses contact with Phobos-Grunt
The ESA tracking station that had made contact with Phobos-Grunt earlier this week failed repeatedly yesterday to re-establish contact.
An update on the efforts to save Phobos-Grunt
An update on the efforts to save Phobos-Grunt.
“The first pass was successful in that the spacecraft’s radio downlink was commanded to switch on and telemetry was received,” said Wolfgang Hell, ESA’s Service Manager for Phobos–Grunt. Telemetry typically includes information on the status and health of a spacecraft’s systems. “The signals received from Phobos–Grunt were much stronger than those initially received on 22 November, in part due to having better knowledge of the spacecraft’s orbital position.”
The second pass was short, and so was used only to uplink commands – no receipt of signal was expected. However, the following three passes in the early morning of 24 November proved to be more difficult: no signal was received from Phobos–Grunt.
ESA antenna contacts Phobos-Grunt again, this time downloading telemetry data
An ESA tracking station has once again contacted Phobos-Grunt, this time downloading telemetry data.
“We have again established contact with the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, we obtained telemetry reports, they are being analyzed by our colleagues from the Lavochkin Research and Production Association,” ESA spokesman Rene Pischel said.
Mars Express takes a close look at the Mars volcano Tharsis Tholus
Mars Express takes a close look at one of Mars’ giant volcanoes, Tharsis Tholus.
At least two large sections have collapsed around its eastern and western flanks during its four-billion-year history and these catastrophes are now visible as scarps up to several kilometers high. The main feature of Tharsis Tholus is, however, the caldera in its center. It has an almost circular outline, about 32 x 34 km, and is ringed by faults that have allowed the caldera floor to subside by as much as 2.7 km.
An international team of astronauts recently completed a six day underground cave mission
An international team of astronauts recently completed a six day underground cave mission in an effort to simulate some of the aspects of space exploration on another world.
I, along with my cave exploration friends, find this article somewhat humorous, as these astronauts weren’t doing anything that unusual from our perspective. Routinely we have teams going underground for three to five days to do exploration and survey work as part of the Germany Valley Karst Survey in West Virginia. The result has been more than fifty miles of virgin passage in the past eight years.
But, if these astronauts want to join us and do some exploration, they’d be welcome!
First Soyuz rocket launch from South America scrubbed
First Soyuz rocket launch from South America scrubbed.
Europe has invited Russia to join the US/ESA ExoMars mission as full partner
Lacking sufficient funds, Europe has invited Russia to join the US/ESA ExoMars program as full partner.
How to build a Soyuz
Video: How to build a Soyuz rocket.
Final preparations begin on the first Soyuz rocket launch from French Guiana
Final preparations begin on the first Soyuz rocket launch from French Guiana, set for October 20.